US investment bank Jefferies has increased its headcount by nearly one-fifth over the past year, despite a challenging environment in which the firm’s European revenues fell by 15%.

The US bank said in a filing on Monday that revenues in Europe for the six months to May 31 were $202.8m, down 15% on the $235m it made during the same time last year. This meant that Europe was the only region where revenues at Jefferies fell year-on-year. In Asia, its net revenues tripled over the same time period from $11.2m to $33.3m.